A/N: Hello, darlings! Another quick update for you! Enjoy and review, and if you've finished Deathly Hallows, please read the author's note at the end and let me know what you think!
October:
On the 4th, Hermione fell asleep on the couch in front of the fire, a book in her lap, her head pillowed on one bony arm. Several hours later she woke up, surprised to see the fire still burning strong. Her book was apparently gone, and she was not only stretched out comfortably on the couch but also covered in a soft, worn afghan. She felt pressure on one of her ankles, and she lifted her head just enough to see Draco sitting at the other end of the couch. He was frowning at the novel she had been reading, his brow furrowed in concentration. She wondered if he found magic in it, too, and if he was aware that his left hand was resting on her ankle, the thumb absently stroking the arch of her foot. She put her head back down before he noticed she was awake, and allowed herself to drift back into the warm arms of sleep.
On the 11th, one year to the day after Molly Weasley was slaughtered in the London streets, they found Arthur dead in his room. The official decision was that his heart had given up on him, but Hermione thought privately that it was rather the other way round, and Arthur had simply given up on himself.
On the 18th, Hermione gave her virginity to Draco Malfoy. It was storming that night, and her memory of it would always be in bright, erotic flashes in the dark: the too-sharp hollow of his collarbone as he rose above her, the startling contrast of his pale skin and her dark hair in the blue light, the shadow of his curved back and bowed head that flashed briefly on the ghost-white wall. As rain thrashed the windows and the sky roared its rage at the sleeping world below, their joining was no less full of desperate passion and violent intensity than the furious tempest. The storm grew ever-nearer, until the clouds were right above them and lightning lashed out threateningly at the trees outside Hermione's window. Thunder crashed so loudly it sounded like the world was ending and the room lit up like an apocalypse in a bad Muggle movie, but Hermione was aware of nothing except Draco's endless eyes as she fell over the edge of the world.
On the 21st, Hermione found Ron and Draco standing on the back porch. They had been coexisting in the house in a strange sort of limbo, never overtly hostile but always wary, always tense, and never ever willingly spending time together. She wasn't sure if Draco had asked or if Ron had offered, but Draco seemed to be choking his way through his first cigarette, admirably fighting back coughs while Ron respectfully pretended not to notice his struggles. They were not speaking, but they were leaning on the peeling wood railing in an almost companionable way. Hermione was torn between disapproval of Draco picking up a dangerous, unhealthy habit and a desperate desire for the two of them to reach some kind of peace. She finally decided that another smoker in the house was a small price to pay for the end of even a war as small as this one, and walked away.
On the 29th, Hermione turned around in the kitchen to find a cat perched on the counter as if it belonged there. After doing every magical test she could think of to ensure that it was, in fact, a cat and not a spy or a weapon or some other such thing, Hermione contemplated the animal for a long time. It stared back at her with gold eyes that were just a bit too large for its intelligent face. "My last cat was murdered by evil wizards," she informed the animal bluntly. The cat tilted its head to one side, as if to say "And? Your point?" Hermione shrugged her shoulders. "Just wanted to make sure you know what you're getting into." The cat licked one paw delicately and began to clean its sleek face, which Hermione took to be both an acceptance of her implied offer and a dismissal of her company. Hermione named her new companion Athena, and although everyone in the house tried to make friends with her, the cat would not deign to pay attention to anyone but Draco, who, being both allergic to cats and generally opposed to the idea of pets on the principles of both dignity and hygiene, spent most evenings attempting to research or read with a slightly appalled look on his face while Athena purred happily in his lap.
A/N: Review review review!
WARNING: DH SPOILERS AHEAD! A proposal for you, darling ones: I'm currently obsessed with the Snape/Lily Potter relationship that was revealed in DH. Would anyone be interested in reading a one-shot? It's not even close to being done yet, but I just wanted to know what everyone thought. Ok, that's it! Review please!